Has anyone used their Global Entry LETTER instead of a card at Port Everglades?

I was approved for GE on Sept. 2nd, but they still haven't sent the card. I have my approval letter. Anyone have success with using it? My GE number is tied to my passport.

Thanks

Our first time there we had our card but they didn't ask to see it.

So it is worth doing it. Just bring the letter with you and say that you didn't get the card yet.

Keith

Having Global Entry (or another Trusted Traveler Program) gets you into a separate, faster (theoretically) line at Port Everglades. But there are no actual kiosks, you are processed the same as everyone else. So will the letter get you into that line? Might just work as actual possession and use of the card is moot.

But I see you are on Independence of the Seas which uses Terminal 29. Don't know if they will have that separate line there yet, or not until after its upcoming renovation (which I assume will start when Terminal 25 reopens--which judging by its current state might be a long way away).

You don't need a card to use Global Entry, you just scan your passport. That's valid as soon as you get approved.

As long as you keep the relationship of global entry and passport numbers accurate (e.g., should you renew your passport, it will have a new number) you should be okay.

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I appreciate all comments. I have gotten feedback from cruisers on that site that rhymes with Race Cook, and from people who have recently disembarked at Port Everglades, through Pier 29 in particular (where I'll be), and say they needed their cards to show to the TSA agent to get access to the GE line, and once in, there is no passport scanning or anything else. You show your card to the TSA agent and walk on.

So using my letter is not looking good.

The good news is that they also have Mobile Passport, the app your download to your phone to transmit the info you would enter on the customs entry form ahead of time and you get an electronic receipt on your phone and show it to exit. Those lines tend to be faster too.

I appreciate all comments. I have gotten feedback from cruisers on that site that rhymes with Race Cook, and from people who have recently disembarked at Port Everglades, through Pier 29 in particular (where I'll be), and say they needed their cards to show to the TSA agent to get access to the GE line, and once in, there is no passport scanning or anything else. You show your card to the TSA agent and walk on.

 

So using my letter is not looking good.

 

The good news is that they also have Mobile Passport, the app your download to your phone to transmit the info you would enter on the customs entry form ahead of time and you get an electronic receipt on your phone and show it to exit. Those lines tend to be faster too.

That doesn't even make sense. TSA has nothing to do with entry into the US. You get into a Global Entry line after you've used a kiosk and printed off the slip after scanning your passport.

https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs/global-entry/card

Having Global Entry (or another Trusted Traveler Program) gets you into a separate, faster (theoretically) line at Port Everglades. But there are no actual kiosks, you are processed the same as everyone else. So will the letter get you into that line? Might just work as actual possession and use of the card is moot.

 

But I see you are on Independence of the Seas which uses Terminal 29. Don't know if they will have that separate line there yet, or not until after its upcoming renovation (which I assume will start when Terminal 25 reopens--which judging by its current state might be a long way away).

Terminal 29 has a Global Entry line. I used it on Nov 5 after Freedom TA. Without our card, they would have not let us in that line. I know the paperwork says leave it home, you won’t need it. At Port Everglades, you do if you want to use GE.

That doesn't even make sense. TSA has nothing to do with entry into the US. You get into a Global Entry line after you've used a kiosk and printed off the slip after scanning your passport.

 

https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs/global-entry/card

Well, thanks for being so pleasant :) You're correct - I meant Customs and Border Protection Agents, rather than TSA. And that link does not apply to using Global Entry at Port Everglades. That link only applies to airports and crossing the land borders with Canada and Mexico.

At the terminals in Port Everglades, Global Entry is simply a separate line set up along with another separate line for those who use the Mobile Passport app. There are no kiosks, and no one scans your passport. You must have your GE card, as I have come to learn after researching this for the past week. They look at your card and on you go. I've had this confirmed by multiple cruisers in a Royal Caribbean cruise group elsewhere in the social media universe.

The advice to leave your GE card at home is becoming outdated. There are a number of times you might have to prove you have GE (Pt Everglades is a good example, to be allowed in the GE line, some Canadian airports for Trusted Traveler faster security lines is another), and as there is no visible indication on your passport that you have GE, the GE card comes in very handy.

We keep ours clipped firmly in our passport.

You don't need a card to use Global Entry, you just scan your passport. That's valid as soon as you get approved.

You don't NEED your card, but the card is very helpful in a number of cases. See the post just prior to this one.

I was approved for GE on Sept. 2nd, but they still haven't sent the card. I have my approval letter. Anyone have success with using it? My GE number is tied to my passport.

 

Thanks

If you don't have your card since your approval date was 9/2, I suggest you start beating a drum...loudly. Something is amiss.

I asked on the way in. You NEED your card to use GE here.

So I will be unable to partake in my $100 experience to get global entry. LOL

- just used Global Entry last week. I saw the GE line, and one of the security people asked me there if I had Global Entry. I said that I did, but no one asked to see the card. I went to the agent who looked very briefly at my passport, and I was out of the terminal 25 minutes faster than my daughter, who does not have GE.

I was approved for GE on Sept. 2nd, but they still haven't sent the card. I have my approval letter. Anyone have success with using it? My GE number is tied to my passport.

 

Thanks

As someone else mentioned if you really meant to say September 2nd that you were approved and didn't receive your card something is wrong. In fact, if I remember correctly when you get your card you must go back on line to activate it within x time frame. I would contact someone about this ASAP.

Keith

CruiserBruce is correct about having the card with you at even places such as Port Everglades.

Always keep in mind that procedures change from time to time.

When we travel we now just take the card with us just to be on the safe side and that includes returning to USA ports because while the GE capability is only good in a couple of ports that could change at anytime including a sailing we are on.

Keith

Just came in Port Everglades on November 26th. We had to show the GE card to be allowed access to the GE line. Then we put it away and just showed our passports to the Customs agent. I hit my phone stop-watch right before we left the ship. From there, we collected luggage, went through Customs & boarded shuttle for return to hotel. I looked at the time when we were actually on the shuttle -- 14 minutes from ship to shuttle!! GE is SO worth it!

We don't have a GE card. But we do have a Sentri Card. We didn't need it at SFO returning from Hong Kong, just slid our PP into the kiosk. But I guess things are different at seaports as we haven't used it at any yet. However, it was "SWEET" at clearing at SFO.